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Musicians Friend Stupid Deal of the Day is the Guild A-150 Savoy archtop at $699.
Guild A-150 Savoy @ Musicians Friend $699
- Thread starter gjmalcyon
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guildman63
Senior Member
Got it goin' on right here...
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?188207-MF-Stupid-Deal-of-the-Day-Black-A-150-Savoy-700
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?188207-MF-Stupid-Deal-of-the-Day-Black-A-150-Savoy-700
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Yeah - I was one minute late to the party. That kakerlak fella is purty dang quick ...
LOL, sometimes... With no holes in the top and no real collectible value, I've sometimes fantasized about buying one of these A models and putting whatever pickups/controls I can dream up in them. They'd be a heckuva blank canvas...
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My luthier, Pete Brown in Collingswood, NJ, did just that with a late-50's Guild Freshman. As I recall it had three different pickups <<edit: One of which may have been an under-saddle transducer, or the UST may have been in addition to the three >> and a bunch of knobs and switches. I was hanging out as his shop one evening while he did a setup and bone saddle on one of my guitars, and he took a break and demo'd the thing for me. I was agog at the variety of tones and sounds he got out of it.
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DThomasC
Senior Member
You mean something like the Harmony that JJ Cale made his living with?
Oh god, what a mess! I was thinking something tamer, like a pair of Franz pickups, with the treble one slammed all the way up against the bridge and a tele neck pickup in the middle. Or you could go with DeArmonds, nasty old Supro pickups, etc. How about an Eddie Cochran P-90/DeArmond combo? Really, you could do just about anything, unless the geometry on these is different than the X models -- it occurs to me that the strings could be a lot closer to the top with that floating pickup.
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Yeah, something like that. The sounds that were coming out of it were amazing.
The funny thing on a guitar like this is that the designation 'solid top' does not mean a carved top. At this price point, it usually means a top that's crushed into a general carved shape.
Gibson was doing this in the '30's (if not before) on their low-end arch tops like an L-37, etc. That's one reason why L48-50 guitars don't sound as good as the comparable 16" L4 carved-top models.
I mention all this because crushed top guitars will feedback quicker than laminate guitars. So, if you wanna load a bunch of pickups in one of these guitars, well, ah,
Caveat Emptor!!
Gibson was doing this in the '30's (if not before) on their low-end arch tops like an L-37, etc. That's one reason why L48-50 guitars don't sound as good as the comparable 16" L4 carved-top models.
I mention all this because crushed top guitars will feedback quicker than laminate guitars. So, if you wanna load a bunch of pickups in one of these guitars, well, ah,
Caveat Emptor!!
Aw, c'mon Harry, just stuff it full of fiberglass like a Dick Dale speaker cabinet and you're good to go!
rg2002
Junior Member
I tried one of these in a music store and even at low volume it started to feedback.
Neal
Senior Member
OK, wait a minute. Back to JJ Cale's Harmony...
It looks like the removal of the back was permanent, with structural strength added via cables and turnbuckles.
Was that to eliminate feedback?
It looks like the removal of the back was permanent, with structural strength added via cables and turnbuckles.
Was that to eliminate feedback?
Neal, I had a friend who used to be a guitar tech in Austin back in the early-mid '80s. I remember talking to him about that guitar. He may have an interesting point of view, so I'll contact him and get back to everybody if his observations and recollections merit distribution to this august gathering!
DThomasC
Senior Member
I think it was just to make it easier to work on... or maybe it broke and he just removed it. Here's a little info about that guitar.
http://www.americanstandardtime.com/j-j-cales-fifty-dollar-guitar/
Although he had his fingers into just about every aspect of recording, etc, he was never much of a purist snob; whatever got the job done.
I miss that guy.
Neal
Senior Member
" He never bothered putting the back of the guitar on again so he’d have easy access for repairs and adjusting the action by means of a couple coins he had wedged into the thing."
That is so awesome. Looks like he added the cutaway as well.
That is so awesome. Looks like he added the cutaway as well.